Annual Report and Financial Statements for the Year Ended 31
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Company Registration Number: 7664012 Diverse Academies Trust (A Company Limited by Guarantee) Annual Report and Financial Statements For the Year Ended 31 August 2018 DIVERSE ACADEMIES TRUST (A Company Limited by Guarantee) Contents Page Reference and Administrative Details 1 - 2 Chairmans Statement 3 - 4 Chief Executives Statement 5 Trustees Report 6- 17 Governance Statement 18 -21 Statement on Regularity, Propriety and Compliance 22 Statement of TrusteeW Responsibilities 23 Independent Auditors’ Report on the Financial Statements 24 - 26 Independent Reporting Accountant’s Assurance Report on Regularity 27 - 28 Statement of Financial Activities Incorporating Income and Expenditure Account 29 Balance Sheet 30 Statement of Cash Flows 31 Notes to the Financial Statements 32 - 64 DIVERSE ACADEMIES TRUST (A Company Limited by Guarantee) Reference and Administrative Details For the Year Ended 31 August 2018 Members JR Rolph M Blore IC Wiggins Trustees JR Rolph, Chair M Blare D Clinton, Acting Chief Executive Officer (ACEO) & Accounting Officer (resigned as Accounting Officer 15 June 2018) M Quigley S Hall (resigned 11 May 2018) S Jones (appointed 13 November 2017) E Warhurst (appointed 13 November 2017, resigned 18 April 2018) IR Storey (appointed 28 September2018) C White (appointed 28 September 2018) PK Mabbott (appointed 28 September 2018) Company registration number 7664012 Company name Diverse Academies Trust Principal and registered do Tuxford Academy office Marnham Road Tuxford Newark Nottinghamshire NG22 OJH Company secretary A Elway Senior management team CB Pickering, Chief Executive Officer (Accounting Officer from June 2018) D Clinton, Acting Chief Executive Officer (ACEO) while CEO on secondment (resigned 31 August 2018) D Cotton, Executive Principal L Davidson, Executive Principal N Holmes, Executive Principal K Hardy, Academy Principal C Saxelby, Academy Principal G Corban, Chief Operating Officer (incorporating CEO from October 2017) L Mosley, Chief Financial Officer (resigned 1 October 2017) Independent auditors Smith Cooper Audit Limited 2 Lace Market Square Nottingham NG1 1PB Bankers Lloyds Bank 37 Castlegate Newark NG24 1BD Page 1 DIVERSE ACADEMIES TRUST (A Company Limited by Guarantee) Reference and Administrative Details of the Trust, its Trustees and Advisers For the Year Ended 31 August 201$ Advisers (continued) Solicitors Browne Jacobson Mowbray House Castle Meadow Road Nottingham NG2 1BJ Page 2 DIVERSE ACADEMIES TRUST (A Company Limited by Guarantee) Chairman’s Statement For the Year Ended 31 August 2018 The Diverse Academies Trust (DAT’) is the legal vehicle which owns the Academies within the DALP Partnership, apart from The National Church of England Academy in Hucknall which is owned by The National Church of England Trust (‘NCEAT’) at the insistence of The Diocese of Nottingham & Southwell. The Partnership Board is made up of Trustees from both Trusts. In April 2017 The Trust was approached by the Regional Schools Commissioner for agreement to second the CEO, Chris Picketing, to another MAT which was experiencing serious difficulties. The Trustees agreed to second the CEO for approximately 13 months and to promote the DCEO, Debbie Clinton, to Acting CEO in his absence. In June 2018 he returned to resume his position as CEO and Accounting Officer. In accordance with best practice he has declined re-joining the Board as a Trustee. Under Debbie Clinton’s leadership, 2017/18 saw the integration of five more academies that joined the group at the beginning of the financial year. Excellent progress has been made in many of the DALP academies, especially at Queen Elizabeth’s Academy in Mansfield where we managed the transfer of more than 30 children from the failed Vision School, at very short notice, to support the Regional Schools Commissioner. Retford Oaks Academy had a full Ofsted inspection and was rated ‘Good’ for the first time. This was just reward for the time and effort put in by all the staff involved. Short Ofsted inspections at the National Church of England Academy and Tuxford Primary Academy confirmed their ‘Good with Outstanding Features’ ratings. Debbie has now left the Trust to take up the CEO position at ATT. We wish her well in her new challenge. For some time now, the Trustees have been considering their skill base and their ability to challenge all areas of Trustees joined the Board since the year end: the Trust’s activities. I am delighted to teport that three more have - Peter Mabbott, a former Chair of Queen Elizabeth’s Academy, will bring considerable additional eperience of finance and risk management. He is the Local Director for Halifax - Lloyds Banking Group in Nottinghamshire. - Cherie White is the Founder and CEO of ‘Think for the Future Ltd’ which provides specialist educational support to schools and mentoring services to young people at risk of not achieving their full potential. - Ian Storey has a great deal of corporate management experience and was Chief of Staff in the Global Legal and Compliance Departments at Astra Zeneca. We welcome them all and look forward to them contributing to the work of the Board. As mentioned last year, DALP has invested heavily in building its education capacity in order to take on, and transform, additional schools and academies. This has resulted in a deficit for the year of £1 .3M before actuarial gains and losses. Many of out academies are experiencing significant pupil growth and this puts further pressure on finances due to the problems of ‘Lagged Funding’. Many MATs are running in-year deficits as a result of reduced funding and we feel that DALP has responded more quickly than most; nevertheless, it seems that the ESFA want to see hard evidence of the improvement in our financial position before sanctioning further growth. Meanwhile we have carried out a radical review of our cost base and have centralised the control and management of all areas other than education delivery. Further efficiencies will be made wherever possible, although it is becoming increasingly difficult to work within current funding levels. However, the 2018/19 budget shows a surplus position. One of the principal objectives of the current year is to resume growth and disseminate best practice to more academies. Motivating and rewarding our staff is key to achieving our objectives, and it is good to see that pay rates have been increased and that most of the cost of this will be reflected in academy funding. Providing excellent education takes excellent teachers and support staff and we cannot afford to lose people through disaffection and low pay. Too many are leaving the profession due to workload issues and constant curriculum changes. Page 3 DIVERSE ACADEMIES TRUST (A Company Limited by Guarantee) Chairmans Statement For the Year Ended 31 August 2018 It goes without saying that DALP’s continuing success is down to the quality, dedication and sheer hard work of the teaching staff and the support staff, who go out of their way to ensure the best education for every pupil. This is borne out by the excellent results achieved across the academies and the improvements made by the schools Trustees for all their that have recently joined the group. I would like to thank all staff, governors and my fellow efforts on behalf of the pupils in our academies. John Rolph Chair of DAT & DALP Date: Page 4 DIVERSE ACADEMIES TRUST (A Company Limited by Guarantee) Chief Executive Statement For the Year Ended 31 August 2018 2017/18 was an important year for the Trust. Its financial consolidation strategy has placed it in a strong position to meet the challenges that lay ahead. The strategy has focused on two main areas: 1. The rationalisation of non-pay expenditure through the removal of non-essential spend 2. The centralisation of L&M of the business function The Trust has carried out a full review of its financial controls. Accountability is strong and the cash position of the organisation is healthy. Some posts have been removed but there have been no compulsory redundancies. The Trust has continued to perform well in its core educational business. All the academies with current Ofsted Inspection grades are either good or outstanding. Recently sponsored academies ate awaiting Ofsted inspection. All are improving in line with expectations, although the pupil performance outcomes in one did dip from the previous year. Significant improvement is expected in 201 8/19. The CEO returned to the Trust in June following a 13 month secondment. The Deputy CEO has moved to become the CEO of another Trust after three very valuable years’ service. The Trust has not replaced this role. A new executive structure was put in place for 2018/19 as the first stage of a plan to introduce shared leadership where appropriate across the Trust. Five academies joined the Trust in September and October 2017/18: • Yeoman Park Academy • Redgate Primary Academy • Thrumpton Primary Academy • Bracken Lane Primary Academy • Samuel Barlow Primary Academy The main challenges for the Trust going forward are as follows: 1. To effectively manage the cost pressure facing the sector 2. Implement the next phase of the financial consolidation strategy 3. Ensuring that the newly sponsored academies continue to improve and that this is reflected in student performance outcomes as quickly as possible 4. To ensure that the many benefits of being a MAT are realised and impact on raising standards in all academies The Trust is monitoring its growth very carefully and is committed to ensuring that future growth is tightly controlled and that imprpvement capacity remains commensurate with needs and requirements of all its academies. C Pickering Chief Executive Office Date: Page 5 DIVERSE ACADEMIES TRUST (A Company Limited by Guarantee) Trustees’ Report For the Year Ended 31 August 2018 The Trustees present their annual report together with the financial statements and auditors report of the charitable company for the 1 September 2017 to 31 August 2018.